Childhood SES and EF in childhood and beyond

Recent work has found that higher childhood socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with higher executive function (EF). Most studies rely on one or a few tasks, in samples of a limited age range. We examined the association between childhood SES and EF with seven canonical EF tasks in a sample ranging from 9-25 years of age. Analyzing the tasks together, we found a positive relation between SES and EF, which did not vary by age. Analyzing the tasks separately, SES was positively associated with performance numerically in six of the seven tasks, and statistically significantly in two to four of the seven EF measures, depending on the covariates used. These results add to a growing body of research that childhood SES has an impact on EF abilities, and they suggest that this association persists into early adulthood.